Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Flops On Friday, Headed For Box Office Failure

Bad news for fans of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Though to many it seemed like the buzz surrounding the movie was tremendous going into its Friday release, apparently the buzz was only big around a few internet sites and nowhere else. People aren’t showing up to see it. At all.

Early Friday estimates from Box Office Mojo have it coming in a very distant fourth. There’s even a chance it may drop to fifth before the weekend’s over, if there’s a strong push from now out for more than a month Inception, currently sitting in fifth place. Scott Pilgrim only made a paltry $4.5 million on Friday. The big earner for the day and sure to be big winner for the weekend, The Expendables, earned a solid $13.2 million by comparison.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World cost more than $60 million to make and if you’ve seen the movie that’s easy to believe. All of that money is right there on the screen. Whether you love it or not, one thing’s for certain: Edgar Wright’s movie really tries. It’s a feast for the eyes. But with that kind of money spent Pilgrim is going to struggle to break even. They’ll need international markets and DVD sales to justify the budget. No movie ever truly flops in Hollywood anymore, but the way things are going, Scott Pilgrim is going to be as near a flop as it gets.

It could be worse. Eat Pray Love could be number one. Instead it’s a distant second place at $8.5 million earned on Friday, and it’ll probably still be sitting there in second when the final weekend totals roll in Sunday night and Monday morning. Men have answered the call and showed up in force to support the first truly, man-movie to hit theaters in years. Geeks, on the other hand, don’t seem to be as into Edgar Wright’s whimsical style as many had hoped. That’s a shame. Both The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim deserve to find an audience (though for completely different reasons). I guess one out of two ain’t bad.

Check back with us Sunday night for final box office totals and, if the trend continues, an in-depth analysis of just where it all went wrong for Scott Pilgrim.